U.S.: We Can Kidnap Foreigners

The United States has informed Britain that it can "kidnap" foreign citizens if they are accused of committing crimes in America.

According to the Sunday Times of London, the revelation was made by a senior attorney for the federal U.S. government. The attorney told Britain's Court of Appeal in London that the U.S. Supreme Court has OK'd the kidnapping foreigners.

Previously, it was believed that U.S. law allowed such action only for the "extraordinary rendition" of terrorist suspects. The declaration by Alun Jones, the U.S. attorney, to the Court of Appeal means that the law applies to anyone suspected of a crime by the U.S.

The issue came up during the trial of Stanley Tollman, who is wanted in America for bank fraud and tax evasion. He has been fighting extradition through the British courts.

According to the Times, Jones said that if a person was kidnapped by U.S. authorities in another country and was brought back to face charges in America, no U.S. court could rule that the abduction was illegal and free him: “If you kidnap a person outside the United States and you bring him there, the court has no jurisdiction to refuse — it goes back to bounty hunting days in the 1860s.”